Our invention relates to electrical connection arrangements and more particularly to terminal blocks for use in interconnecting electrical conductors.
In electronic and communication equipment, it is often necessary to provide interconnections for large numbers of conductors in diverse environments. Where large numbers of wires interconnected in centrally located enclosures are subject to rearrangement, an array of terminal blocks having mechanical connection points is generally utilized. Each terminal block must be of compact construction adapted to make the required connections in a convenient layout in the smallest possible space and designed to prevent high voltage breakdown and electrical leakage.
In telephone and other communication systems, interconnection enclosures are often placed at outside locations where the terminal blocks in the enclosures are subject to high humidity, salt air, and other contaminants. The adverse environmental conditions and the contaminants may cause lower electrical resistance between the terminals so that arcing and detrimental electrical leakage can occur. Barriers may be placed between the spaced metal terminal inserts in a terminal block to prevent arcing. These barriers, however, are relatively ineffective to prevent electrical leakage due to condensation of salt-bearing moisture or other contaminants and tend to act as a bridge for condensed moisture. Such barriers also increase the spacing between terminals. To maintain a high electrical resistance between terminals in such an adverse environment, the spacing between terminals of the block has generally been increased to an extent where the number of connections on each terminal block is limited.
It is an object of the invention to provide an economical terminal block arrangement having an orderly sequence of terminals with minimal spacing between terminals and a high degree of immunity from arcing and electrical leakage.